Uncommon Uses For Sugar

By Cook's IllustratedPublished January 2012

There's more to sugar than adding sweetness to baked goods.

Odor Eliminator

To get rid of onion or garlic smell on your hands, wet your hands with warm water, sprinkle with a tablespoon of granulated sugar, rub for a minute, and then rinse off. The sugar crystals act like porous sponges to absorb some of the odor molecules.

Chewiness Preserver

Because sugar absorbs moisture from the air, storing soft or chewy cookies in a closed container with a few cubes of sugar keeps them from drying out. In tests, cookies stored this way retained a just-baked texture for two days.

Pain Reliever

Next time you burn your tongue on a hot drink, try pressing your tongue directly against a spoonful of sugar. The crystals will immediately begin to dissolve—a process that pulls heat from the tongue, dulling the pain.

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